QUOTATION MARKS
BY DAIYA BRAZIEL AHSANTI BROOKS
QUOTATION MARKS
Direct Quotations
Direct quotations involve incorporating another person's exact words into your own writing.
1. Quotation marks always come in pairs. Do not open a quotation and fail to close it at the end of the quoted material.
2. Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence.
Mr. Johnson, who was working in his field that morning, said, "The alien spaceship appeared right before my own two eyes."
3. Do not use a capital letter when the quoted material is a fragment or only a piece of the original material's complete sentence.
Although Mr. Johnson has seen odd happenings on the farm, he stated that the spaceship "certainly takes the cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity.
INDIRECT QUOTATONS
Indirect quotations are not exact wordings but rather rephrasing or summaries of another person's words. In this case, it is not necessary to use quotation marks. However, indirect quotations still require proper citations, and you will be committing plagiarism if you fail to do so.
Mr. Johnson, a local farmer, reported last night that he saw an alien spaceship on his own property.
Many writers struggle with when to use direct quotations versus indirect quotations. Use the following tips to guide you in your choice.
Use direct quotations when the source material uses language that is particularly striking or notable. Do not rob such language of its power by altering it.
Martin Luther King Jr. believed that the end of slavery was important and of great hope to millions of slaves done horribly wrong.
EXAMPLES
Direct Quotations:"Are you coming?" she asked me.